140 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



warm weather came in a lump, and the cold in a lump after the warm, 

 and at the most critical season for gardening. Take it in detail, week by 

 week, and see by the figures how the " bedding system," like our other 

 free institutions, has been " put upon its trial." From the 1st to the 5th 

 of May, the temperature, according to averages, should have given a mean 

 of 50-5°. The actual mean was 47 - l°. Then, to the 10th of May, the 

 mean should have been 58 - 5°; the actual mean was 50°. From the 10th 

 to the 1 7th the mean was f above the average ; thence to the 24th, again 

 1 above the average, and people said, "Summer has come." The w r hole 

 nursery trade was alive with orders, and thousands of bedding-plants were 

 consigned to what proved almost an ice-well. From the 24th to the 31st, 

 the temperature was 3f below the average, with one inch of rain in the 

 week. From this time the weather went from bad to worse, and the 

 tender things committed to the ground between the 18th and 24th were 

 compelled to endure the severities of a November drizzle. There was a 

 fair promise of improvement on the 12th of June in London, the barometer 

 rose, the sun shone through the haze, and hope revived ; but the barome- 

 ter fell again a quarter of an inch, the floodgates of heaven were opened 

 once more, and not till the 21st was there any indication of approaching 

 settled weather. 



In the week ending June 7th, the temperature was 4-75 below the 

 average, with one inch and a-half of rain. The next week was worse still 

 — 7° below the average, with nearly one inch of rain. Then the 15th was 

 cold and wet, the 16th showed signs of improvement, the 17th was a de- 

 luge, with one inch and a-half of rain, and on the 18th the barometer began 

 to rise, with the wind at N.E., and a promise of fine, but severely cold 

 weather. Thus, from about the 28th of May to the 17th of June, the ac- 

 cumulated deficiencies of heat amounted to sixteen degrees ! In the winter 

 months this would be of little consequence, but at such a season a defi- 

 ciency of heat, with extra moisture, is most disastrous to the flower-garden, 

 and our readers have before them sufficient proofs of its effect without the 

 necessity of our enforcing the fact upon them. From the 27th of May to 

 the 16th of June, the highest reading of the thermometer was 65°. On 

 the 17th, it rose to 69° in the shade, on a north wall at Stoke Newington, 

 only to sink at nightfall to a March minimum, with the soil soddened like 

 a sponge. Slimmer-flowering plants will bear low atmospheric tempera- 

 tures without injury, if they are warm at the roots, but if the roots are 

 chilled, they either damp off and disappear, or lose their leaves, cease to 

 produce flowers, and fall into such a state of sickness as requires a con- 

 siderable time for their recovery. Towards the end of May the ground 

 temperature usually rises to 56° in the latitude of London, but not till it 

 Trises to 60' is the summer fairly inaugurated. On the 7th of June, 1850, 

 the temperature of the ground, two feet from the surface, at Chiswick, was 

 57i° ; on the 7th of June, 1857, it was 57° ; on the 7th of June, 1858, it 

 was 60° ; on the 7th of June, 1860, it was 55° ! On the 14th of June, 

 1850, the ground temperature was 58^-°; on the 14th of June, 1857, it was 

 56i° ; on the 14th of June, 1858, it was 62^° ; on the 14th of June, 1860, 

 it was 56' ! God forbid we should adduce these figures in a spirit of com- 

 plaint. He who has promised that seed-time and harvest shall never 

 fail, gives no account of his actions to man, but He docs permit man fre- 

 quently to learn the lesson that — 



" Behind a frowning Providence, 

 He hides a smiling face." 



